quote:"Though it is the 'final' decision on the issue, like other CRTC rulings, it can be appealed at the regulator [CRTC], at the Federal Court, or beyond both to the Federal Cabinet, which has [sometimes] varied major decisions in the past."

(I take it that the 'Federal Cabinet' means the GiC.)

Also :

quote:"Unlimited Internet service died today," said John Lawford of the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre. [PIAC]

"(A) 15 per cent discount ensures only that independents (Internet service providers) will survive the imposition of usage-based billing as businesses.

There will be no money left over to actually differentiate their service to the point of unlimited."

.This next Globe story was published earlier during the same day of the decision, and seems related :

Today's CBC article

quote:"The CRTC has once again left the wolves in charge of the henhouse. Canadians have come out in unprecedented numbers and demanded an affordable internet, and while there is evidence that this has moved the CRTC, they have not gone nearly far enough," said Steve Anderson, OpenMedia.ca's national co-ordinator.

"It is deeply disappointing that the commission has decided to give a few companies a free hand to engage in economic discrimination and crush innovation. Now is the moment for forward-looking, visionary policymaking, not half-measures and convoluted compromises with the companies trying to kill the open internet."

Re: Globe Continues UBB Coverage

I seriously doubt the customers of the indies will see any of that 15% reduction in the UBB rates. They're going to need that to pay for the billing, collection, and remittance of overage funds collected to Bell. Not to mention all those extra customer service calls from people disputing their bills.

And there appears to be no control against BHell (etc) offering promos to their own end-users to bust that discount, as such not having to also discount THOSE temporary rates to the wholesalers like TSI.

Third-party ISPs provide service to about four per cent of the total Internet users, using the infrastructure owned by the large telecommunications companies, which in this province are Videotron Ltd. and Bell Canada Enterprises.

...snip...

In a statement, Mirko Babic, BCEs senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs, said usage-based billing is a way for Bell to manage traffic so that it doesnt get out of hand.

Flat-rated pricing structures are no longer viable for either retail or wholesale services given the ongoing explosive growth in Internet traffic and the load it puts on network, Babic said. Bell is making multi-billion-dollar investments in new broadband, but pricing structures from the 1990s need to be brought in line with the realities of 21st century Internet usage.

But Miller pointed out that in its ruling Tuesday, the CRTC acknowledged that telecom companies already recover most of the costs related to heavy Internet users.

The commission is saying that from what they know of their infrastructure is that their costs are covered by the retail price, so for them to charge above and beyond for usage-based billing is pure profit, Miller said.

Lynne Fancy, a spokesperson for the CRTC, said the bandwidth caps dont just serve the profit margins of the companies, they ensure that there isnt too much congestion on the networks. She said there has been a problem with capacity at times, and companies have been forced to throttle, or decrease the Internet speeds of their users.

The commission showed a preference to economic traffic management practices, as opposed to throttling, because we felt that put the user in control, and allows customers to match usage with willingness to pay, Fancy said.

Charlie Angus, the NDP Member of Parliament who speaks about digital issues, said he disagrees with the rationale behind usage-based billing. He said it will lead to huge increases for customers.

What we need to have is clear and transparent rules so its being used in a measured capacity and its not just instituting the principle that every time you turn on the Internet, they can ding you for fees like they do with cellphones, Angus said.Weve seen this before; when we were told that deregulating cable rates would give customers a big benefit. We were paying 60 to 100 per cent in no time.

There you have it! The CRTC basically said Throttling should now be taken out.

NetFlix's Reaction to 2011-44

quote:Hastings [NetFlix's CEO] also criticized the prices being charged to users that exceed their download caps.

quote:Internet users have largely sided with Netflix's view of the situation. - They rebelled when Time Warner Cable tested low data caps and overage fees, eventually forcing the company to reverse course, and they're currently protesting so loudly in Canada that the government regulator has had to take some action. - But when ISPs have set huge caps, like Comcast's 250GB limit, few complaints have arisen.

It will be pretty sad if they have to also pay the trolls that control the bridges to Canada's version of the internet. Bell's dream multi-tiered internet access where you pay the troll when you cross the bridge coming or going.

In a letter to investors, he said it costs ISPs about a penny per gigabyte of data traffic  and that cost is decreasing. He said overage data charged at $1 per gigabyte is "grossly overpriced." Meanwhile, Canada's largest ISP's typically charge twice that amount and sometimes more.

"Hopefully we can work with the different consumer groups and providers and get a better costing structure," Hastings said in the conference call, "more in the one-penny range or (plans) bundled in with a much higher cap."

hehe Bell will set Mr. Hastings straight and show him a gig is really 4.50$ and that the wild and crazy low price of 2.50$/gig is a great deal!

It's clear to me Mr. Hastings does not realize the true cost on internal B/W before it even hits the internet.